Team-BHP - Ola S1 Electric Scooter Review
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Quote:

Originally Posted by sri_tesla (Post 5221266)
Regarding, Bloomberg article about production issues, which is being reposted by the Indian media outlets, well it's the same with every automobile company in the world. Mass production is hard and it will be slow especially at the beginning. Tesla has struggled with production with each of their models at the beginning and now it became a juggernaut in production and growing each year at a rapid pace while legacy companies are struggling with not just their EVs but ICEs also. There are probably thousands of articles against Tesla and how they are gonna go bankrupt anytime for the last 10 years. Many people shorted Tesla based on these stories from reputed websites and newspapers and repeatedly lost billions of dollors.


While it may seem that Ola is struggling, they are most likely to deliver more vehicles in the first 3 months (Dec, Jan and Feb) than what Ather delivered in 3 years and combined deliveries of Bajaj and Chetak did in 2 years.

Bhavish Aggarwal has crazy dreams, but it is precisely those people who bring about change.
Wish him the best in his endeavors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMar (Post 5221498)

About mileage, I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a case of poor segment/product awareness by the owners. It is very common world over for the real world mileage to be significantly lesser than that under test conditions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMar (Post 5221498)

Teething issues are one thing but getting your new bike delivered with broken/dented panels is simply appalling. And with their ' no dealership' setup the delivery guy will simply wash his hands off after delivery and ask you to contact the relevant person in case of discrepancies. When you do complain you'd get the typical ' I am sorry for the inconvenience caused and we'll get back to you asap'... response.

I am not against EVs , infact I think they are the perfect solution for commuting in densely populated areas but I'd rather wait for a mainstream manufacturer to come up with a reliable product which goes through their regular testing routine than some new face with no background in mechanical engineering whatsoever. It's all nice to hear about all the connected features and Bluetooth enabled side stand but at the root of its still a motorised vehicle and it should go, turn and stop like one. I'll wait and see what the big 4 Japs have to say before I plonk my money into electrified transport. Atleast, if something doesn't work I can go see a person of some sort to get it fixed instead of talking to a computer.

I guess, it is the problem with promising too many things and realizing during execution all tiny problems holding up the delivery. I am hearing stories that Tesla Model 3 is getting shipped without USB charging ports on their cars. Reason, Global parts shortage.

Few years down the lane, there will be one more shortage. Global Lithium/Graphite/Nickel or in general Global battery shortage.

This scooter with key less entry, finger print, Blue tooth, big screen.. more and more technology, more and more parts, many things can go wrong while manufacturing. Servicing nightmare, parts logistics nightmare, warranty issues, testing validations nightmare, Ola has it's hands full while executing this.

However, I do appreciate Ola's commitment to come out with a business plan on such large scale electric two wheelers manufacturing. Old tigers like Bajaj, TVS, Hero MotoCorp and even Japanese Honda did not even think of doing this. Hats off to Ather for starting this revolution and I hope Ola succeeds.

May be they should have released a low tech model first and work upwards on higher technology variants. I guess, this route is being take by Bounce and I am confident, Bounce can do wonders, since they have both dealerships and testing network in the form of bike rentals.

Finally, until India becomes self reliant on Battery manufacturing and motor production, manufacturing two wheelers with major Chinese components will always be a nightmare.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pogo0120 (Post 5222362)
...
However, I do appreciate Ola's commitment to come out with a business plan on such large scale electric two wheelers manufacturing. Old tigers like Bajaj, TVS, Hero MotoCorp and even Japanese Honda did not even think of doing this. Hats off to Ather for starting this revolution and I hope Ola succeeds.

Big players don't need to do what Ola is doing. They can happily wait, gauge the market reaction and come out with their own electric scooters later. They have the dealership network and brand awareness. Ola will still benefit but only by taking the risks, but imo the big players can wait instead of investing huge amounts quickly.

I cancelled my booking yesterday. I like the product very much, but I will wait some months and buy it after it becomes a well rounded product, thank you. Even if I have to pay 10k more. At my age, I don't wish to be a beta tester with nowhere to go in case of problems. I hate to report my problems in the app and then twiddle my thumbs till something happens. I would rather prefer a dealership where I can go and speak my mind. I would absolutely not accept a scooter with cracks in the body panels. Let them iron out all the wrinkles first.

Producing 150 scooters a day is not bad. That will be close to 4500 EV scooters delivered in a month, which is way better than anyone else making EVs. I will be surprised if Bajaj or TVS sell 150 a month right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gansan (Post 5222444)
I will be surprised if Bajaj or TVS sell 150 a month right now.

They haven't got into the EV market seriously and the low sales shows for it. I am really waiting for the traditional manufacturers to get into the EV space full time both in 2 wheeler and 4 wheeler space before I consider them as a primary vehicle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dozer (Post 5222443)
Big players don't need to do what Ola is doing. They can happily wait, gauge the market reaction and come out with their own electric scooters later. They have the dealership network and brand awareness. Ola will still benefit but only by taking the risks, but imo the big players can wait instead of investing huge amounts quickly.

You should look in to what happened to the Big 3 US auto companies as a result of waiting too long and having the dealership liability on their back. Its not even funny. Big players have a lot of inertia and only reason they weren't disrupted so far was the capital intensive nature of auto business. When tech disruption happens, fat, slow and old companies are usually at a disadvantage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_rock098 (Post 5222687)
They haven't got into the EV market seriously and the low sales shows for it. I am really waiting for the traditional manufacturers to get into the EV space full time both in 2 wheeler and 4 wheeler space before I consider them as a primary vehicle.

Why would you wait till traditional auto (who mostly only survived because better tech from overseas weren't allowed to enter India) who aren't passionate about building EVs make EVs when you can buy good EVs from new tech companies who are passionate about solving problem and are all in on EVs? Companies like Mahindra and HM kept selling us copies of outdated old models (that they stole or bought for pennies) for many decades. Even now, Mahindra/Bajaj is just lucky to be able to source all the tech from foreign companies they were able to buy for pennies which they made by selling outdated auto to Indians. Mahindra and the likes are given too much credit for what they have done.

If the markets were open, most of your traditional auto would've gone belly up a long time ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sreeharipv (Post 5222996)
You should look in to what happened to the Big 3 US auto companies as a result of waiting too long and having the dealership liability on their back. Its not even funny. Big players have a lot of inertia and only reason they weren't disrupted so far was the capital intensive nature of auto business. When tech disruption happens, fat, slow and old companies are usually at a disadvantage.



Why would you wait till traditional auto (who mostly only survived because better tech from overseas weren't allowed to enter India) who aren't passionate about building EVs make EVs when you can buy good EVs from new tech companies who are passionate about solving problem and are all in on EVs? Companies like Mahindra and HM kept selling us copies of outdated old models (that they stole or bought for pennies) for many decades. Even now, Mahindra/Bajaj is just lucky to be able to source all the tech from foreign companies they were able to buy for pennies which they made by selling outdated auto to Indians. Mahindra and the likes are given too much credit for what they have done.

If the markets were open, most of your traditional auto would've gone belly up a long time ago.

By traditional I meant the big 4 (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki) and big 3 (Honda, Suzuki, Hyundai). You know when these guys launch something it's going to be reliable and dependable. I want them to seriously get into the EV business to get a reliable Japanese build quality machine at decent prices. The Japs are known for adopting new tech quickly so I don't think they will be stuck in using their ICE forever.

Ola Electric started setting up their hyper charging stations. Each station has two connectors. The first ones are set up in Chennai and Bangalore and both are at Bharat Petroleum petrol bunks. Maybe they tied up with BPCL for these.

Chennai (near CMBT):

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Bangalore (near Rajkumar Samadhi flyover):

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Ola S1 Pro owner from Visakhapatnam has reported that his scooter was delivered with cracks and dents all over the body. Link

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Another owner reported that grab rail is damaging the panel and seat cover. Link

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Ola replaced the scooter

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Those pictures of broken panels on bikes delivered to customers, are just awful. I know Ola has its fair share of apologists and even I do admire their gumption for diving in headfirst into a new market, but this is ridiculous. What next? Will they deliver scooters without LCD panels or parts and expect the customers to keep quiet?

If TVS or Bajaj delivered electric scooters with similar damage to customers, members of the forum and the larger internet motorcycling community, would have created an uproar. Unfortunately, it looks like Ola gets a free pass for their poor quality management and lack of respect for customers.

As Ive said before, I cannot in good faith, recommend their scooters at this point of time.

P.S - For everyone who bashes Chinese origin electric scooters, Im yet to hear of any customer taking delivery of scooters with broken panels. Im not saying they are better products than the Ola S1, but at least they have some quality systems in place.

Hypercharger roll out has begun across cities. At key BPCL pumps as well as residential complexes. 4000+ points up through next year.

Quote:

Bhavish Aggarwal : We’re installing across India and will make them operational in 6-8 weeks. Will be free for use till end June 22 for all customers.
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Link

Looks like parts were quickly put together to rush the launch. Wondering if the part validation was done or still non PPAP parts are being used. From some of the images (Esp: Grab Handle), it is clear that proper fitment trial and validation was not done.

I saw that Ola has come out with a statement explaining the divergence in the real world range that is being observed by some owners and what has been advertised.

https://twitter.com/OlaElectric/stat...14909109354503

"The ARAI certified range of Ola S1 Pro is 181 kms basis their test conditions. The True Range for Ola S1 Pro is 135 km. For more details, please refer to the attached image below."

This should be pretty obvious for anyone who knows the difference between the perfect test conditions of an ARAI test and the real world. But I think the difference between evaluating a vehicle on the basis of kmpl and that on the basis of range is confusing buyers as to what to expect and what is the "benchmark". It is further exaggerated by the fact that it is winter now, and in many cities, temperatures in the morning and evening are pretty low. That will definitely affect range. I saw some tweets about getting only 100 km.


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